search-engines-web.comSent In This One with news from MO, where State lawmakers voted Tuesday to create a "virtual public school" that would link students to teachers and textbooks by computer starting in 2007. Gov. Matt Blunt supports the idea but is reviewing the legislation before deciding whether to sign it, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

This Thursday, July 28, from 2-3 p.m., the Book Industry Study Group holds its next Webinar--or Web seminar--on ISBN-13, called "Are you ready for ISBN-13?"

During the live event, held via a conference call and simultaneous Web presentation, several experts on ISBN-13 explain what ISBN-13 is, why it's coming and how to prepare for it. A Q&A period is included. Participation costs $35 to cover costs. Several previous ISBN-13 Webinars reached librarians and booksellers in the past. For more information on the upcoming webinar, go to the Book Industry Study Group's Web site.

What is remarkable is that Jones International University is a distance learning school, accredited by NCA, it offers all its programs at a distance. The graduation was about as nontraditional as you can get, it was online the graduates were not there.

The rest of their page was interesting too, the reception was an asynchronous discussion board. The list of graduates and their profile was quite interesting.

As librarians we provide services to distance learning students and it is remarkable to see how the old and new meld in this online graduation ceremony.

Dr. Billington starts at ~6 minutes in, but I suggest listening to the Chancellor's remarks are they are remarkably complimentary toward libraries."

The validity of PhDs earned by a superintendent, librarian and counselor employed by the Jim Thorpe Area School District is being questioned by the school board. The three, from the Allentown (PA) area, were awarded doctorates from Kennedy-Western University, an online university whose degrees are considered invalid in several states. The three employees are being asked to pay back the more than $16,000 the district paid in tuition, to repay the extra salaries awarded after completing their degrees. The three are defending the validity of their degrees, and the librarian offered a 200-page dissertation as evidence. The matter may end up in arbitration. More here from the Morning Call.

The European Commission's portal on elearning has been updated. The aim is to inform interested citizens on the Elearning Initiative and provide resources as well as a platform for open discussion on the policy.

Anonymous Patron writes "Spaghettilearning is an E-Learning totally free LMS platform written in PHP +Mysql, it works in any platform and in any browser (Xhtml + Css2); Features are: Lessons Upload, Student tracking, Test, Forum, Chat, Agenda, Notes and many other features. Manuals in English and Italian and also auto Installer and Auto Upgrader.

Is used in several Universities, Schools, Health, Business and Government. From Now it support 5 languages (English, Italian, Finnish, Spanish and German).

"A librarian will soon be available any time of day or night to answer questions and guide people to the information they need, thanks to a $120,000 federal grant last week to statewide libraries for a virtual reference librarian service."

"Via live chats on the Internet, patrons can ask questions and a professional librarian can lead the way to answers, said Susan Simmons, Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library reference librarian and acting library director. The 24-hour, 7-day-per-week system is expected to debut Sept. 1, said Brenda Bailey-Hainer, project manager and director of networking and resource sharing for the Colorado State Library." (from The Daily Camera via Utah and National Public Library News)

The Maryland Library Partnership, a coalition of public libraries, is developing an e-learning course that it hopes will help libraries across the country provide better service.

The course is intended to teach librarians how to answer questions from patrons more effectively and how to improve their customer relations in general. It\'s an extension of a three-day course that has been in use for 20 years that required librarians to attend classroom and face-to-face training sessions and that has been the basis for similar training courses nationwide . . .

A test of the new course is planned for January and should be available to libraries in Maryland in spring 2003. It will then be offered for sale to libraries in the rest of the country later next year.